An Ooltewah resident tells his story of escaping communist rule in Vietnam n “The Only Way Out: A True Story of Life Under Communism” (CreateSpace, $8.70, 132 pp.)
Victor Tien N. Pham, 43, an employee of McKee Foods, said colleagues convinced him to write this memoir after hearing about his harrowing escape to America.
“I’ve been in this country more than 20 years, but every time people ask me about my past, they say I should write a book after they hear it,” Mr. Pham said.
Mr. Pham’s story begins at age 10 following the American withdrawal from the war in Vietnam. His father is imprisoned for having aided U.S. soldiers in protecting free South Vietnam, and the family doesn’t know where. Poverty and starvation have resulted from the change of regime.
Mr. Pham’s family arranged to have him and one of his 10 siblings secreted out of the country when he was 16. Mr. Pham and 68 refugees of all ages were hidden beneath a plastic tarp aboard a 10-foot by 16-foot fishing boat.
Their journey hardly started when carelessness caused their water supply to be lost overboard except for one 50-gallon barrel. The 69 existed on a capful of water three times a day until the fourth day when rations were cut to a fourth of a cap a day. Seasickness and dysentery made living conditions filthy.
The second day out, the boat’s engine broke. They drifted without a navigation system until two fishermen sold them a lawnmower engine connected to a large stick to propel the vessel. Putting along at 15 mph, they crossed the Gulf of Thailand and reached Malaysia on the sixth day at sea.
Once in Malaysia, Mr. Pham was housed in a refugee camp for several months, sent to the Philippines, then Seattle, Wash., and finally to his Chattanooga sponsor family. His first meal here: Kentucky Fried Chicken.
After 20 years, Mr. Pham’s family has been reunited in America.
“Millions of people fled to the sea and to the border, carrying with them the hope of a better tomorrow. Half of those people vanished from the face of the earth, while the other half became scattered around the globe. I am one of the latter,” he writes.
“The Only Way Out” is sold only on amazon.com.
Susan Palmer Pierce is a reporter and columnist in the Life department. She began her journalism career as a summer employee 1972 for the News Free Press, typing bridal announcements and photo captions. She became a full-time employee in 1980, working her way up to feature writer, then special sections editor, then Lifestyle editor in 1995 until the merge of the NFP and Times in 1999. She was honored with the 2007 Chattanooga Woman of ...
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